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BARS AND CAFES are set to close in Paris but restaurants will be allowed stay open under tightened restrictions, under new measures that will last for 15 days.
It comes as the French capital is is placed on maximum coronavirus alert in the face of alarming Covid-19 infection numbers.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and the capital’s police chief Didier Lallement will spell out the conditions later today.
Health Minister Olivier Veran announced last week that only improved Covid-19 infection rates could prevent “total closures” of the city’s trademark cafes and bars.
France reported nearly 17,000 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday alone, the highest daily number since the country began widespread testing.
Figures from the regional health agency ARS show new coronavirus cases remaining above 250 per 100,000 people in Paris.
That threshold triggers the maximum alert protocol, which has already hit the southern cities Aix-en-Provence and Marseille and their surroundings, as well as the French overseas territory of Guadeloupe.
Coronavirus patients are now taking up more than 30% of the intensive care beds in the Paris region.
“There is no justification for denial,” said Paris region health director Aurelien Rousseau on Sunday. “The numbers are what they are, and they are weighing heavily.”
‘We’re French, we love to drink’
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin acknowledged that the closure of bars and cafes would be “tough” for everyone concerned.
“We are French, we love to drink, to eat, to live, to smile and to kiss each other,” he told broadcasters LCI and Europe 1 on Sunday.
“But we’re also doing this because the people want us to,” he added.
BFM television on Sunday published a poll saying that 61% of people living in Paris and its suburbs were in favour of a complete closure of bars, currently authorised to remain open until 10pm
Mayor Hidalgo told reporters on Sunday: “It’s not a done deal, there is still work being done, we’re still talking”. But she also conceded that the health situation was “very serious”.
The government has said it will primarily target establishments that “serve alcoholic drinks without food”.
Other large French cities including Lille, Lyon, Grenoble and Toulouse are also hovering near the maximum alert threshold and similar measures to those in the capital could be in store for them, too.
Madrid
In Spain, Madrid went into a partial lockdown late on Friday that cuts it off from the rest of the country.
The new restrictions, which will also apply to nine other nearby towns where infection rates are high, will mean people are only allowed to leave the area for work, school or medical and legal reasons.
Although Madrid’s regional leaders have agreed to implement the restrictions, they strongly oppose the closure, filing an appeal at the National Court to challenge its legality.
Madrid is struggling with a rate of 780 cases per 100,000 people, compared with just 300 per 100,000 in the rest of Spain — which in itself is the highest in the European Union.
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Hang on a second !
Hold on there now…time lord is a legit occupation?
This is great news. I’m really going to use this extra time to catch up on all those little jobs I’ve meaning to get around to, or perhaps a lie in would be better.
I had an anti climax once. She met a fella on a cruise after a few vodkas.
I don’t understand most of that.
Good. I work in IT and the more people who do not understand it, the more we can charge (rubs hands with glee, pets white cat on lap…. muohahahah !)
As the earth’s rotation slows, days are getting longer
Y2K was a damp squib, nothing happened, but lots of it companies made a lot of money out of it.
but maybe if all that money and effort was not spent it would have been a very wet squib?
I mean a very dry squib of course.
what is a squib and why is a damp one such an anticlimax?
a squib is type of explosive , a damp one won’t explode.
……you sir, are a fountain of knowledge…. now I need to look this up, where did I leave my google?
Actually issues did happen:
http://www.cs.swarthmore.edu/~eroberts/cs91/projects/y2k/Y2K_Errors.html
Also, most bank software programmers [and this was mostly in COBOL at the time] spent a long time working crazy hours getting sh*t together and correct so that stuff like applying 99 years of credit to accounts wouldnt happen.
There is another one feasibly going to come in 2038 when the unix epoch time rolls over to zero again. Thankfully it only affects 32-bit-integer related systems, but still gonna be hilarious….
B
A squib was a very little stick of dynamite that you could buy in the boys store before all this health and safety nonsense took hold. When a kid was allowed matches you could light them to blow up little bunkers of sand where the enemy toy soldiers were, classic.
God says: To me a thousand years is but a second. However I will grant you your greatest wish.
Pope Francis: Okay God I wish to win the Euro Lotto €180,000,000.
God says: Your wish is granted!! Wait a second!!!!!
Is it April the 1st?
If it was that would be nearly 4 months less.
This is very confusing
It isn’t really confusing.
I’m delighted for you. But I find it is.
A day lasts 24hrs because that’s how long it takes to spin around once. Except that its always gradually slowing down so the eggheads add an extra second to one particular day every few years to compensate. This angers god hugely, who retaliates by setting off volcanoes and smiting old people, etc.
have your say